Rufus Wainwright-goes-to-grad-school lushness dominates, though, and despite Bird's Death Of Marat pose on the cover, My Finest Work is not quite revolutionary. [May 2019, p.93]

This is special, many-layered stuff. [May 2005, p.108]

The overall tone is one of forbearance rather than rabble-rousing provocation. [Mar 2015, p.100]

It sounds surprisingly, hypnotically groovy. [Jul 2017, p.96]

Its second pits their sharp improvisational wits against Evan Parker, Byron Wallen, Tori Handsley, Sarathy Korwar and Yussef Dayes. [Sep 2017, p.90]

Rainford is a late-career answer to 1978 Roast Fish, Collie Weed & Corn Bread, and beyond all reasonable expectation, fully its equal. [Jun 2019, p.94]

An irresistibly raucous entree to their world. [May 2020, p.88]

There's an early Daptone feel to this strong set. [May 2020, p.96]

Highlights include the cool Old Men, beer-soaked Dance With Your Spurs On and 90 Seconds Of Your Time, a dark, true-life tale that sounds both intense and insouciant. [Sep 2020, p.87]

There's a new directness, a more linear approach to melody, and, most unexpectedly, the overt presence of synthesizers. [Mar 2022, p.86]

Lemmy-recalling rocker The End finds chief pilot Dave Brock poignantly recalling years of adventure as past Hawkwind sonic signatures collide, while the mordantly comic The Beginning looks in electronic/acoustic fashion to a post-human existence of uploaded consciousness. [Jun 2023, p.85]

Excellent third LP aligns with riot grrrl-era pop for its force and intelligence. [Aug 2023, p.88]

Appaloosa Bones is prime Isakov. [Oct 2023, p.81]

Crowell's clear eye for detail is evident throughout, but what gives the album its kick is the lean, clean attack that allows both barroom ravers and haikus of Zen wisdom to linger in the imagination. [Oct 2025, p.89]

She's still drawn to the edges like a death's-head moth to an inferno, but once you are in Wolfe's distinctive headspace, it's easy to believe they are her comfort zone, and maybe even yours. [Mar 2025, p.85]

Brings a little focus--and some memorable tunes--to the proceedings, though Wolf's muse remains doggedly eclectic. [May 2005, p.108]

One of the best rock'n'roll albums of 2014. [Dec 2014, p.96]

The Soderbergs seize the day. [Jul 2014, p.91]

No vintage-gear replicator, he's modern-sounding, fresh, fun--a genuine contender for 2007. [Mar 2007, p.105]

Heartrendingly eerie. [Jan 2018, p.91]

Their fifth album still features plenty of trademark thrills - Brian Chippendale drumming junglist breakbeats at heart-attack velocity, bassist Brian Gibbon's' riffs sounding like a grindcore group playing gabba - while the bark-spitting tempo-shifts of opener Sound Guardians wouldn't alienate the Metallica set. [Jan 2010, p. 96]

Pig Lib is full of as many little mysteries as it is revelations. [Apr 2003, p.91]

Her sinuous, Lady Dayish voice sets her apart. Unfortunately, it's not to be heard in full effect until about a third of the way through Mama's Gun... [Jan 2001, p.104]

Damon and Naomi haven't so much altered what they do as augmented it, often beautifully. The results are occasionally breathtaking.... A rare and graceful record. (Oct 2000, p.92)

In every sense, committed rock'n'roll. [Jul 2005, p.105]

Sauser-Monnig spins a gorgeously spare, frail web, as if she and instrumental allies Nick Sanborn and Phil Cook only pressed record as dawn was breaking. [Jul 2019, p.95]

Their most remarkable record in years. [Feb 2015, p.95]

Spektor has lept from black and white into joyous colour. [Aug 2006, p.88]